Rain/Wind...45º

I want to say that rain in December is not the usual weather for Joseph, but then my mind goes back 30 some years to December 1982, and the week before Christmas...It had been a horrible windy/rainy night, but it didn't stop me from walking to work at about 6:45am, just before dawn...A light mist was falling as I spied Margaret nearly to the corner where we met to climb the "school hill."..It was breezy with occasional wind gusts, but nothing we couldn't handle...She unlocked the door and I made my way through the kitchen to the light switch...I realized as I reached for the switch that I was standing in water, so instead of turning on the light I opened the door into the cafeteria, light flooded in and my eyes went upward, upward to a ceiling/roof that was no longer there...The entire south cafeteria roof was gone, blown clear across the school building, into the fields below...School alumni pictures that adorned the walls were now floating in the 3 or 4 inches of water that covered the cafeteria floor...The heavy velvet curtains on the stage billowed and danced in the wind...Need I say that it was all surreal...I don't remember the chain of events after all of these years, but one thing that sticks in my mind was the reaction of the new school superintendent, when I called him to report the damage...He said, "We must call all of the teachers and tell them to stay home."

Of course the buses didn't run and school was canceled but no one stayed home...Teachers, custodians, students, parents and towns people arrived...I'm not sure who took charge, but soon everyone had a job...Contractors arrived on the scene, huge vacuums went to work, sucking up water...The wind and rain returned with a vengeance but it didn't stop the pounding and sawing and by late afternoon a temporary roof covered the cafeteria and repairs had been made to the gymnasium roof...In the kitchen we went to work feeding people...I can't believe that the power was not out but I remember making coffee and we let it be known that we had coffee and cookies for anyone that needed to take a break and warm up...Knowing that Christmas vacation would start a few days early and our traditional ham dinner was canceled, we made ham and cheese sandwiches, to feed the community that showed up when the roof blew off of the school cafeteria.

I would rather see snow in December, but rain is not so unusual and the hope is, that snow is falling on the mountain tops...Hugs To All...OWAV:)